The invention relates to a tape measure comprising a housing into which a measuring tape can be wound, or, as the case may be, out of which it can be drawn, the tape extending from a drum rotationally supported in the housing, the drum being rotatable around an element like a handle, which at least in sections passes through a first external lateral surface of the housing, and which proceeds from a support or comprises it.
A tape measure with a frame is known from DE-U-297 00 227, which is taken up by a winding drum, which can be operated by means of a crank as a handle, which crank extends outside the frame. A tape measure known from DE-C-34 04 629 discloses a housing in which a rotating axis formed in one piece with a crank handle is placed.
Similar tape measures with hand-operated winding mechanisms are normally used for tape measures that are more than 10 meters in length and have a flat tape cross-section.
We also know of tape measures that have a spring-operated winding mechanism (EP-A-1 074 818). In that case, the measuring tape has an arched cross section.
Tape measures of this type, also called pocket tape measures, have a housing, also called a capsule, which is configured in such a way that the length of the base, which is provided with measuring units, can also be used for a so-called internal measurement between two defining surfaces. The zero-point of the tape measure abuts on one defining surface. The external edge of the housing, or as the case may be, the capsule, abuts on the opposite defining surface. The measurement read from the tape measure with the addition of the known length of the base of the housing makes up the “internal measurement.”
Tape measures with hand-operated winding mechanisms do not offer the possibility of taking an internal measurement. In addition, the housings or capsules of long tape measures are fundamentally designed according to ergonomic considerations, without the possibility of a stop-situation comparable to that of a pocket tape measure.
The housing, or as the case may be, the capsules of pocket tape measures are often configured in a way that enables corner-stop positions from any orientation. This requires that the lateral surfaces run coplanar to each other. The coplanar aspect is not present in the housings of tape measures with hand-operated winding mechanism with ergonomically shaped housings.
DE-C-1 194 159 relates to a tape measure that can be wound up inside a housing and which is operated using a crank. The crank originates from a support embedded in the housing, which protrudes laterally outside the wall of the tape-measure housing by means of a circumferential flange.
A winding tape measure according to DE-U-1 944 081 comprises a crank to wind up the tape measure. The crank emerges from a support that protrudes above the external surface of the housing.
In the case of a tape measure according to DE-U-1 992 258, a crank that runs along the outside of the tape measure housing is used to wind up the measuring tape.
A measuring tape according to DE-B-96 14 269 can be rolled up by means of a crank that runs outside the housing.